Smartphones and similar devices are generally considered to be beneficial because they perform many different functions that previously were performed by separate devices. For example, in addition to allowing a user to talk on a phone, today's smartphone may also be used as a clock, a calendar, an address book, a TV, a messaging device (for text messages and email), a gaming device, an Internet gateway, a word processor, a camera, a photo album, a reading book, a social networking device (via, e.g., Facebook and Twitter), and much, much more.
But that increased functionality also has shortcomings. Inbound telephone calls, text messages, and a wide variety of alerts from applications and social networks can be distracting and, in instances in which the user is operating a vehicle or other machinery, can be very dangerous. Additionally, a user's temptation to send outbound emails or messages, interact with social networking applications, access the Internet, use the camera, play a game, or employ any other such available smartphone function at inappropriate times can be equally distracting and/or dangerous to the user or to others.
In some situations—at school, at work, in a movie theater or concert hall, on an airplane, or in a place of worship—the ubiquity of the smartphone is often an inconvenience and a disturbance. In other situations, such as when the user is driving a vehicle—especially if the user is in charge of a commercial vehicle and responsible for the safety of others, such as a truck, a bus, a taxi or limousine, a train or subway, a boat or ship, or an airplane—such distracting functions on a smartphone can be extremely dangerous to the user and to others.
Where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the drawings to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Moreover, some of the blocks depicted in the drawings may be combined into a single function.